While many don’t care and are just thankful for rock music, we should light the debate on which inventor is better.

Edison is the forefather of direct current (DC) and believed that Tesla was insane for even suggesting alternating current (AC), but in the modern world we live in, AC/DC currents are symbiotic.

The fuel added to feud fire is the rumor that Edison claimed he would pay Tesla $50,000 dollars if Tesla could improve Edison’s Dynamo, when Tesla worked for him in 1884.

Photo Credit: Think Geek

When Tesla succeeded, the rumor goes that Edison refused to pay him, claiming, “When you become a full-fledged American, you will appreciate an American joke.”

In the case of Tesla and Edison, sometimes people just rub you the wrong way. Both men were habitually egotistical but hated the quality in the other. They had vastly different work styles that constantly ran up against each other, and they ended up going head-to-head in fundamental electrical engineering beliefs.

I often wonder how the two men would react if they were able to see how their two ideas have been combined in the modern world.

Would seeing the symbiosis lead them to create another smear campaign, or would they nod in appreciation of the other and not say a word?